Fantasy Football Week 2: Bench Roddy White

By Dan Freeman

Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

When a guy takes to Twitter to tell his Fantasy owners they should bench him, it would probably be best for those owners to listen. Atlanta Falcons‘ wide receiver Roddy White has been dealing with a nasty high-ankle sprain for several weeks and he’s still clearly in a lot of pain. Though he played last week, he was noticeably affected by the injury, finishing with just two receptions for 19 yards. This week, he’s recommended you should sit him if you own him, and you should absolutely do so. As frustrating as that is, at least he’s giving you a heads up!

Coming off his sixth consecutive 1000-yard season, White is a true iron man. Incredibly, he hasn’t missed a single game since entering the league in 2005. That’s simply unheard of in the NFL today. If anyone can play through an injury, it’s White; but the issue is that his play, and therefore his numbers, will be poor until he’s fully healed. He even admitted that he was supposed to be on a very short snap-count last week against the New Orleans Saints, but that he ended up playing more in order to take some of the heat off fellow wideout Julio Jones.

Having played the role of decoy last week, it seems White is destined to do it again this Sunday against the St. Louis Rams. Without him on the field, their defense would stack up on Jones, Matt Ryan‘s obvious go-to in that situation. If he’s on the field, the Rams’ defense will still have to at least respect him and assign proper coverage, whether he’s running at half speed or not. He’s one of the better possession-receivers in the NFL, so he would still be able to do some damage, even if it’s no more than 10 yards at a time.

The news that White is going to play is obviously excellent for Jones, who will benefit greatly from White drawing some attention away from him. Jones is a big-play threat on every single down if he has some space to work with. His owners should be in for some fun on Sunday.

If you absolutely have to, roll with White this weekend. But be prepared for a likely brutal line; he’s warned you.